Mine is a broken NEC projector (VT470). It's been hit with a stick or something... I think the bulb is ok (pretty sure where I got it from tried it with a new one before they chucked it - it's got one in it) and I'm hoping it will be an easy fix. Gonna do the zenon/halogen headlight bulb mod if I get it working fine - not gonna pay a few hundred for a new bulb.

I have a second one in my sights too which I might get in a few weeks

I got a hot plate a few months back for SMD soldering (just about to get some new thermal fuses to make it safe again).

My dad died before Christmas (he'd been ill for ages so it wasn't out of the blue). I now own a couple of early 80s style acrylic cardigans, a selection of ties I'll probably never wear and a load of oxygen tubing.

No idea what to do with the tubing really though it might come in handy if I ever attempt a water droplet "printer".

Mine is a broken NEC projector (VT470). It's been hit with a stick or something... I think the bulb is ok (pretty sure where I got it from tried it with a new one before they chucked it - it's got one in it) and I'm hoping it will be an easy fix. Gonna do the zenon/halogen headlight bulb mod if I get it working fine - not gonna pay a few hundred for a new bulb.

I have a second one in my sights too which I might get in a few weeks

I got a hot plate a few months back for SMD soldering (just about to get some new thermal fuses to make it safe again).

Why not try some powerful LEDs instead? I am totally going to try that when the expensive xenon bulb in mine dies

Well, could do but they're more expensive than a car headlight Good idea though, I'll keep it in mind.

A normal bulb from a car cant be used, or it can, but the colors would be wrong.

The normal ones got yellow'ish light, and all colors form the projector will then be changed a bit by that. That is why they use xenon bulbs in them, and one xenon bulb is 25$, plus the ballast to power it, in case the build-in can't run it.

The prices on LEDs are like 5-10$ (maybe more too) depending on what you want. But at the same time, they will also produce less heat than the xenon one, even when the LED also require a heat spreader. Plus the LED should live longer than the xenon (the ones in my projector is rated for 1000 hours).

So by changing it to a LED in mine, I can both change to a smaller, an more silent fan, reduce power consumption (the xenon is 150W), and have the same light source longer.

Yes, you could modify the other colors, but white will still be a problem. And not all projectors got the option for modifying RGB, mine doesn't have it, so it totally relies on the light source having the right color. That is also why I will look after a powerfull RGB led, and I can then make a tiny arduino board with ir receiver, and use that to adjust the color of the led on-the-fly

The projector has the option to correct the colour so it would not be too much of an issue but I may go with LEDs as I do agree with what has been posted.

After having a bit more of a look at it - looks like the error it gets is that the bulb doesn't light. I wouldn't have thought that the bulb is just broken. Possibly because the case is a bit cracked they chucked it out over a broken bulb...Just need to work out how it works out when the bulb is lit and hack it into thinking it's always lit. Then I can use some nice LEDs or something.

focalist

A broken WowWee Rovio Wifi Mobile Webcam... now mostly functional after a few minor repairs and cobbling together a battery pack from a half-dozen AA NIMH batteries. It's surprisingly easy to solder wires onto those batteries..

Taking care of a few things, but I plan to set up to let some remote folks play with it over the next day or so..